Deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were forced to respond to emergency calls the old-fashioned way, by radio, after the agency’s computer dispatch system crashed just hours before midnight, leaving patrol vehicle computers basically useless, authorities confirmed to KTLA.
The incident came amid the chaos of New Year’s Eve celebrations across the region, including illegal firework shows, a wild street takeover and the impending Rose Parade and bowl game.
Sheriff’s officials told KTLA that they began hearing of the issue around 8 p.m. as deputies assigned to several different stations reported problems logging onto the computers in their patrol vehicles.
It’s unclear how long it took to find the reason for the crash, but officials later said the computer-aided dispatch program or CAD was not allowing deputies to log in with new year, rendering the whole system inoperable.
One deputy, who spoke to the Los Angeles Times on condition of anonymity, referred to the system failure as “our own little Y2K.”